Pachyderm Problem
by Anonymous13 B
Summary: When a ruthless bull elephant declares war on Pride Lands, it's up to Simba and his friends to stop him from wiping out all carnivores in the kingdom.
1. Chapter 1

I know, I know. This thing is _way_ overdue. But it's here now! Get ready for a heart-pounding story!

**ThatPersonYouMightKnow:** Thank you very much!

**Greg M 94:** That's the thing about the baddies. As smart as they are, they never do seem to learn that...

**the-mysterious-other:** Scar is indeed one very lucky lion. And yes, he does love Vitani very much, as evil as he is.

**snheetah:** No question he's still evil on the inside. No question at all.

**DarthRushy:** You may recall that in the very first story in this series, Simba's first thought upon seeing Tama is that she reminds him of Vitani. However, you might get to see them interact in this story...

* * *

**Pachyderm Problem**

**Chapter One: Tembo**

It was not a pleasant night out in the savannah, not in the slightest. Black thunderclouds covered every inch of the sky, and not one star could even faintly be seen. Rain was pouring down in torrents, creating large puddles of water and mud. Lightning cracked across the sky, splintering one or two trees completely in half.

So what was the one creature out in the storm thinking as it sprinted through the rain? The one slim, powerful cheetah racing its way through the inclement weather?

This cheetah was attempting to get back to the den that it called home. The lithe mammal sped along the wet, sloppy ground in an attempt to reach shelter.

A booming sound echoed across the plains. The cheetah perked up, scanning the scene. Was it thunder, or something else?

As the sound increased in volume, the cheetah soon realized that this was not thunder at all.

It was footsteps.

Big, thunderous footsteps being made by an enormous creature. The cheetah realized how dire the situation was, and it began to bound away at top speed.

The footsteps began rapidly approaching, and the cheetah could immediately tell that whatever it was, it was after _him_. He continued to run, for running was all he could do.

_Boom! Boom! Boom!_

The footsteps advanced further, and the frightened cheetah was beginning to wonder if he would ever see sunshine again…

Without warning, something slammed into the cheetah from behind, sending him flying ten feet into the air before crashing back onto the ground, his leg broken.

The injured feline struggled to get up, and he looked up to the sky in dread. His eyes widened in horror upon beholding his attacker.

The sky was blocked by a dark silhouette; one broad enough to fill almost all of the space for the cheetah's vision. The sinister beast had two enormous flapping ears, glowing yellow eyes, a long trunk, and two incredibly sharp tusks. There was no question this beast was an elephant, albeit one much more malicious than normal…

"Who-who-who are you?" the cheetah asked weakly.

"Who am I?" the shadowed elephant asked back in a deep and arrogant voice. "I am… Tembo."

The cheetah trembled in fear. Tembo had acquired something of a reputation for himself over the years. He had spent whole decades of his life roaming the continent, killing any and all carnivores he could find. The frightened animal knew what this meant for him.

Death.

"I suppose you have heard of me before," Tembo smiled. "Then in that case, I would suspect you know why I am here."

"To kill every carnivore you can find," the cheetah spat. He knew it would be useless to fight…

"That's right!" Tembo chuckled. "And I suppose you know where I am headed?"

"The Pride Lands," the cheetah responded. "The most lush and peaceful kingdom on Earth."

"Good boy," the elephant grinned. "The Pride Lands are home to all the pure-hearted souls on the planet. King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi, their little brat Simba, and his friend… Nala. Even she has gained a reputation."

"She pulled a thorn from my brother's paw," the cheetah smiled.

"Such altruism sickens me," Tembo frowned as he shook his mighty head. "She'll be the first to go…after you, of course."

The cheetah slowly raises a paw. "May I say one thing first?" he asked his soon-to-be-killer.

"If you wish," Tembo answered.

"You won't succeed," the cheetah declared. "The Pridelanders will stop you. You probably don't believe me now, but they will."

"Oh they will, will they?" Tembo smiled.

Without another word, Tembo reared up on his hind legs before bringing his front feet down to the cheetah's body. The animal was still, and broken. He would never rise again.

Tembo trumpeting to the night sky in victory, a dramatic clap of lightning adding to it. He then vowed, "I'm ready for your challenge, Pride Landers! I will destroy you all!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Private Time**

"Remind me why we're doing this, Simba?" Nala asked as the two cubs strolled through the tall grass.

"Well," Simba explained, "I thought we should go off and have an hour or so to ourselves while the others play."

"Okay," Nala smiled. _I wonder why he suggested this…_

The two cubs settled down on a rock, sitting next to each other, looking out over the golden savannah. To say it was a beautiful sight would be an understatement.

"It's really pretty," Nala smiled.

"And when we're older, we get to rule it!" Simba blurted out, before blushing and lowering his head to the rock.

"What do you mean, Simba?" Nala asked.

"Haven't you heard of our old tradition?" Simba asked, with complete sincerity. "That the royal cub's best friend becomes their… betrothed?"

Nala giggled. "Oh, Simba. You don't have to cite an ancient law to win me over. If you want to try a kiss, just ask."

Simba's eyes widened, and a goofy smile spread across his face. This was it! He would finally get to kiss Nala!

Alas, this was not to be. As soon as they began to lean in, a distinctive squawk reverberated through the landscape.

"Oh, man," Simba sulked. Zazu fluttered his little blue wings as he hovered above the cubs.

"Engaging in a bit of romance, I see?" Zazu asked, quite smug in the knowledge that he had caught the cubs in the act… Almost, anyway.

"Go away, Zazu," Simba frowned. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Your father sent me to check up on you," the hornbill responded. "Now that I see that you two are perfectly fine, I suppose I can leave you alone for the next few minutes."

With that, Zazu flapped away, and Simba turned to Nala. "He sure is funny sometimes, isn't he?"

"Yep," Nala agreed. She then commented, "Your uncle sure was brave the other day."

"Yes he was," Simba smiled. "Didn't I tell you he was a great guy?"

"I guess you're right," she smiled. "Not often we have _him_ come to the rescue! Usually it's your dad."

"Well, they are brothers," Simba smiled. "Wouldn't they logically have some of the same traits?"

"Like Vitani and Nuka both being psychos?" Nala asked.

"Exactly."

The cubs sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the birds and insects, before Simba asked another question.

"Do you think we're heroes, Nala?" Simba asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked back.

"Well, do you think we qualify as heroes? We've faced quite a few dangerous foes, but I can only think of one time where we fended off the danger ourselves."

Nala smiled and responded, "You know One-Eye was a menace to the kingdom even before we were born, and we succeeded in driving him off. And we did so again the other day."

"But that was Uncle Scar, not us," Simba sighed. "And Dad subdued Khara, not to mention the hyenas. I was the cub in distress! How embarrassing is that?"

"Simba," Nala began, "you've been very brave in every situation you've been it. You alone can claim victory over Vitani, for example. You helped us get away from the hyenas, and from Khara. You probably saved the whole kingdom when we defeated One-Eye, and you were great the other day!"

"So, does that mean I'm a hero?"

"Of course it does, silly!" Nala smiled before pinching Simba's cheek. She then leaned into his ear and whispered, "You'll always be my hero."

She then licked him ever so slightly on the cheek and sprang away.

"Come on, Simba! Let's go see what the others are up to!"

Simba followed alongside her, smiling all the way.

* * *

Well, it's safe to say that these are some of my best chapters yet! I bet you didn't expect the opening to be so dark, did you? Tembo is quite the villain, I think. Don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

I know, I know. It's been over two months since I posted the first two chapters. I've been doing a lot of other things and haven't really had the energy to write this. But here it is now! I hope you find it worth the wait!

**ThatPersonYouMightKnow:** Mood Whiplash indeed! Thank you!

**snheetah:** This changed your perspective on elephants, eh? For all their tender compassion towards herd members, elephants have a startlingly common tendency to attack and kill other animals, including humans and rhinos.

**the-mysterious-other:** I'm glad you like it so far!

**Greg M 94:** He is extremely ruthless. I think you'll find him even scarier as the story progresses…

**TRON0602:** Indeed they do have a threat coming! And while I doubt Simba would go so far as to throw Zazu in the birdie boiler, he might want to after that. And thanks for the retroactive reviews too!

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Discovery**

As the sun shone down on the green grasses of the savannah, a regal pair of lions walked through the landscape, surveying their kingdom.

"Nothing appears to be amiss," Sarabi smiled. "All is well today."

Mufasa smiled and nodded. "I would agree, Sarabi."

Suddenly, without any warning at all, Zazu appeared in a flash in front of the king and queen, squawking and trying desperately to keep himself aloft. It was obvious that the poor bird was terrified out of his wits…

Mufasa and Sarabi's expressions widened with concern. "What is it, Zazu?" Mufasa asked, sensing urgency.

"I-I-I…" Zazu stammered, "I s-saw a…a…de…"

The bird began to pant frantically, and fell to the ground, exhausted. Mufasa scooped up Zazu with a paw and placed his unconscious form on Sarabi's back, and the two lions headed in the direction Zazu arrived from.

* * *

A little brown mouse scampered through the grass, twitching its little nose as it made its way through the miniature landscape in which it lived. Without warning, a greyish-white paw crashed down upon the mouse, and soon the little animal found itself being held by its tail and lifted into the air as the face of a cub greeted it.

"Now you look like a nice little catch," Mheetu smiled. "We're going to have lots of fun today!"

"Excellent work, Mheetu," a deep voice drawled from behind the cub. The cub turned around and smiled upon beholding the lanky red lion who stood before him. Scar smiled at his new protégé.

"It seems you've been doing this for a while," Scar observed. "Your technique shows it."

Scar had decided to be Mheetu's instructor for the day. He saw enormous potential in the wicked little cub, who had shown to be a more than willing pupil. The two had agreed to begin with the practice of torturing mice, seeing as it was a noted hobby for both of them.

"Now, you want to talk to them in smooth tones," Scar explained. "It gradually calms them, making it easier to do what you wish with them."

Mheetu nodded, and smiled in his sweetest voice, "You want me to put you down, don't you? That's not going to happen, I'm afraid. You'll just have to settle for a fun hour of time with us, my little friend."

Scar smiled viciously. "Perfect. Now let us begin the _real_ fun."

* * *

"Oh no," Sarabi gasped as she and Mufasa beheld the body of a dead cheetah, the very same one that had been murdered the night before. Zazu was awake now, and sat perched on Mufasa's shoulder.

"It's been ages since we've seen this sort of thing," the hornbill sighed.

"Who could have done this?" Sarabi asked with concern.

Mufasa pondered this question. "Let's see… Khara wouldn't be out of the question, but I think he's going to wait it out before striking again. And there would be signs of consumption if One-Eye and his gang were the killers. And this is definitely not a hyena attack."

"Who could it be, then?" she asked, before her eyes widened with horrified realization. "You don't think—"

"No," Mufasa responded quickly. "It can't be him. He's all the way on the other side of the continent. He vowed to never come back until—"

Mufasa suddenly stopped, and he now remembered the words the evil elephant had spoken long ago, back when he was a cub himself.

"Until the king's sons have sons of their own," Mufasa finished. His eyes widened in horror, and Sarabi felt like screaming. The most fearsome opponent the kingdom had ever faced had returned at last.

"We have to find the cubs and tell them," Mufasa declared. "I don't want them to be out there without knowing the danger."

"Then let's not waste any time," Sarabi frowned.

Immediately, Sarabi bolted away at top speed, followed by Mufasa, as Zazu flapped his wings while trying desperately to keep up. The three of them hoped that they could reach the cubs in time.

* * *

As the frantic adults rushed to find the cubs, they were unaware of the fact that they were being watched. Tembo had been observing them the whole time from a thick cluster of trees about 100 feet away from the cheetah's corpse.

"Those fools think they can stop me," Tembo frowned. "I am invincible. They will know that soon enough."

The wicked pachyderm slowly made his way out of the greenery, stomping his way through the landscape. He knew he would win, and there was nothing the lions could do about it.

He would become more than an elephant. He would become a god.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: A History Lesson**

Simba sat on a large rock, his paws folded over, as he looked down at Chumvi and Tojo. Nala stood adjacent to the rock, keeping watch for any signs of trouble.

"It's so dull today," Chumvi commented. "There's nothing to do!"

"Well, there isn't anything wrong with relaxing," Tojo smiled in his trademark squeaky voice. "It allows me to keep watch on my birds."

"You're just lucky Mheetu hasn't gobbled them up yet," Simba observed.

"That's not true!" Tojo squeaked. "I'm a very good father!" He leaned down to the birds and began talking to him. "It's okay, Daddy's here…"

"You've gone cuckoo, Tojo!" Chumvi exclaimed.

Simba turned to face Nala. "Please tell me you want to go do something!"

Nala smiled, "Oh, Simba. You never want to sit still and relax." She moved closer to him, swaying like a snake. "There are reasons to stay here."

Simba smiled, _This is it! We'll finally do it! We'll finally kiss! We—_

"Um… guys?" Chumvi interrupted. "The king and queen are coming, and it looks like they're pretty nervous about something."

Simba and Nala turned their heads to behold Mufasa and Sarabi suddenly running towards them, gasping for breath as they stopped.

"Cubs," Mufasa panted, "there's something we need to tell you."

"What is it?" asked Simba, alarmed.

"Nala," Sarabi asked, "do you remember removing a thorn from a cheetah's paw?"

"Yeah," Nala answered, already worried about where this was going.

"His brother was murdered last night," Sarabi revealed. Nala gasped, and the other cubs stared at the two grown lions in shock.

"Who did it?" asked Malka. "Or do we know yet?"

"We have a suspicion as to who it may be," Mufasa answered grimly. "Sit down, cubs. It's time we told you a little story."

"Okay!" Simba chirped. Even though he could already tell this story was not going to be a pleasant one, he was still excited to hear it.

"Well," Mufasa began, "this story begins a long time ago, when the two of us were your age, or perhaps even younger. My father, King Ahadi, had been the ruler for a long time already, along with my mother Uru. One day when my mother was leading a hunt, the lionesses were attacked by an enormous bull elephant, one larger than any that had ever been seen in the Pride Lands. He killed no less than three of them and gravely injured my mother. She was brought back to the den and tended to by Rafiki, and if it hadn't been for him, she would not have survived. My father was enraged, and he enlisted the help of every single elephant in the kingdom to drive Tembo away. The entire herd surrounded him and tried to kill him, but he ultimately surrendered. He left, but not before making a declaration to the pride. He warned that he would return when the king's sons have sons of their own. And as we know, Scar and I have both had sons in the form of Nuka and Simba here. Tembo has spent most of his life roaming the savannah killing any carnivorous animal he can find, and now he has returned."

"Did Grandma have permanent injuries?" Simba asked.

"No," Mufasa answered with a small smile. "She managed to recover. But things were not the same again for quite some time after that. I remember always looking over my shoulder, just to make sure he wasn't going to crush me flat with that massive foot."

Sarabi then decided to communicate the last part of the message.

"Please be careful, cubs. We would like to ask if you could please not stray far from the waterhole for the time being. Tembo's threat will continue to escalate, and sooner or later, he's going to launch a full-scale attack on Pride Rock. When he does, I want you cubs to flee immediately."

"But what about you guys?" Nala asked.

"We'll be fine," Sarabi assured her. "We've won many battles long before you were born. I understand that all of you have warded off Khara and One-Eye, but Tembo is different. He's much larger and is more difficult to injure. Not only that, but he isn't the type who will gloat or wait around like those two. He'll only stop to celebrate when he knows there is no chance of your survival."

The cubs nodded, understanding what Sarabi was telling them. They didn't want the cubs near Tembo at all, no matter how heroic they had been in the past. This was simply too much.

"Thank you for telling us, Sarabi," Kula smiled. Sarabi smiled back, and she and Mufasa walked off.

"Wow," Simba muttered as he let out a heavy breath of air. "I'd never heard that story before. Why do we never hear about these evil psychos until they show up again?"

"Because that's when it's relevant, dummy!" Tama snarled.

"Tama, you don't need to go that far," Nala scolded. She didn't really like it when people said less than kind things to Simba, whether they were friends or foes.

"The important thing is this," Chumvi proclaimed. "If Tembo ever shows up, we're screwed."

* * *

I hope these chapters were worth the extremely long wait! Again, I'm so sorry! This was quite the set of chapters, wasn't it? Please don't forget to review!


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